Speirs, Rosemary, 1940-2022 : Rosemary Speirs was a political journalist, feminist, and environmental activist. She obtained a Ph.D. in History from the University of Toronto in 1973. In 2007, she was granted an honorary Doctor of Laws from Trent University for her distinguished leadership in advancing the representation of women in Canada's government and her outstanding work to protect the natural environment.
Speirs' career as a political journalist spanned nearly four decades. It began when she was hired as a reporter for the Canadian Press at the age of 23. She later became a political columnist at Queen's Park and a national affairs columnist in Ottawa for the Toronto Star. In 1989, she became the Star's bureau chief in Ottawa. She also wrote columns for the Globe and Mail.
As a feminist activist, Speirs was a volunteer member of the Committee for '94, a women's group founded in 1984, which aimed to have women members of Parliament make up half of the House of Commons by 1994. To reach its goal, the organization notably held press conferences and organized three Women and Politics conferences and the Women Make a Difference conference. During her time with the organization, Speirs and fellow member Libby Burnham co-wrote "Let Women Play Too", a brief presented to the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform which advocated for public funding of elections. The Committee for '94 was dissolved in 1994, not having achieved its founding goal.
In 2001, Speirs became the founding chair of Equal Voice, a feminist organization dedicated to getting more women elected at all levels of government. Her contributions to the organization included challenging all three Ontario party leaders to increase the nomination of women as part of the 2006 Ontario Challenge, and heading the electoral reform campaign to facilitate the election of more women. Speirs has delivered numerous speeches on behalf of Equal Voice, including one to the Ontario Select Committee on Electoral Reform in 2005. She resigned as chair of the Founding Chapter of Equal Voice in 2006 but remained on the Board until 2011.
Speirs' commitment to women's issues earned her a Governor General's Award in the
Commemoration of the Persons Case in 2004 and a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in 2006. She was also made an honorary life member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in 2006.
Rosemary Speirs passed away in August 2022.
